Air conditioner



Jan. 2, 1945.

AIR CONDITIONER Filed May 11, 1942 Fifi 0 I N V EN TOR. NORMA/Y 5 NA c A/v oxe/vzys N. E. Mu -m 2,366,540

Patented Jan. 2, 1945 PATENT OFFICE Ara CONDITIONER Norman E. MacLean, San FranciscoQCalif. i

application May 11, 1942 Serial No 442,464

Z'Claims. (01.- 183-43) The present invention relates to air conditioners, and particularly to an air conditioning unit which is compact and arranged in a relatively small, vertical, cylindrical container, so thatit may be supported for operation within a ventilator pipe or king post on ship board for conditioning the, air in one or more of the ships holds. Moisture in the hold of aship, which results largely from condensation when the ship moves through belts of different temperature and clinnatio conditions, is dangerousland, often destructive to many kinds or cargoes. It is, therefore, desirable to employ means, forreducing the moisture content of the air in ships holds, thus eliminating, condensationand destructive dampness. a l l a i A major consideration on cargo ships is space for cargo, and u all space occupied by necessary equipment of course reduces thecargo space, while ventilator cowls and their shafts or pipes are now sometimes omitted inship construction. The king post, which is of hollow steel. construction, is always, present and extends above the main deck and down through the, holds. Both ventilator pipes and king posts presentvertical, cylindrical spaces usually free or all equipment and conveniently arranged for the disposition of equipment for conditioning the air in :the holds.

These pipes and posts areusually approximately thirty inches in diameter, and are. necessarily the hold is to be accomplished.

sealed off ifwmcient(conditioning of the air in It is the object r the present invention to provide an air conditioning unitcapable of con-,

trolling humidityfand other factors, in, the air of ships holds, and adapted to be contained and operated within a ventilator pipe or king post. A further obiect of the invention is the proviit may conveniently be lowered into a ventilator Figure 2 is a sectionalview taken on theline IIIII of Figure 1.

As shown in the" drawing, the present 'invention comprises a vertical, cylindrical container in which may be made of relatively light sheet metal or theflike, and the upper end of'which is preferably closed by a cover H. A blower I2 is ,disposed in the container adjacent its upper end a and is operated byj a motor l3. An intake duct 14 communicates with the inlet [5 of the blower so that air which enters the container mat the lower rig ht-hand portion thereof, as viewed inFigure l is drawn across the container through achamber adjacent the lower end which contains a hygroscopic agent, as will presently be described, and then upwardly through the duct I4 and into the blower. Relatively dry air is, therefore, discharged by the .blower through a rectangular duct l6, which extends downwardly andprojects outwardly from the. bottom of the "container Ill, where it may be divided into two ducts, as shown, or into more, depending upon the number of compartments in the 1101s, of the ship to which it is: desired to supply dry air. The entire assembly is such that pipe or king post, where it may be supported at a desired elevation by any suitable bracketsor cross braces, not shown, provided in the pipe or kingpost for that purpose. The side wall of the container i0 is provided with an opening covered by a removable plate H, which is secured sion bran efficient and compact unit having meanstor supporting alarge quantity of a hygroscopic agent with a relatively large surface area of the agent exposed to a. circulating air stream and having means for automatically replenishing the air to said area iand. efliciently disposing of the moisture which is taken from the air by the agent. I l

Further objects and advantages orthe invention are made apparent in the following speci fication, wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preierred form of the invention.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through an air conditioning unit, embodying the present invention, and

in place asby means of bolts l8, and which may be gasketed, asindicajted at I9. This plate will register when the unit is in position with an opening, in the side of the king post or ventilator pipe which is similarly covered to permit access to the motor I 3 for the purpose of inspection orrepair, and also to permit access to an opening normally closedby a cover 20, which opening is formed in a horizontal partition 2| which separates the motor and blower from the lower portion of thecontainer and forms a top wall for a chamber 22 adapted to contain a supply of a hygroscopic agent, such for example, as calcium chloride, in loose, granular, or crystalline form. The bottom of this chamber 22 is formed by a horizontal partition 13, which is best shown in Figure 2', which has rows of large perforations for the reception of cone-shaped receptacles of screen or other reticulated material which depend into the de-humidifying chamber through which air is drawn by the fans midifying agent are of two shapes arranged in alternate rows, which rows are closely spaced and staggered in the manner illustrated in Figure 2. The first shape, being that shown at 24, consists of a cone of screen with its apex extending downwardly and having a collar of imperforate material 25 ad- Jacent its upper end and a flange 26 projecting outwardly from its top edge to form a support by means of which the cone is suspended when it is inserted through the perforation provided for in the partition 23. The second type of cone is that illustrated at 21, the walls of which diverge downwardly and turn inwardly to form an apex at its lower end. This type of cone also has an imperforate collar 28 adjacent its upper end, and a flange 29 by which it is supported in the same manner as the cone 24. The perforate cones arranged and supported in this manner serve several useful functions in connection with the exposure to the air of the hygroscopic agent which they contain. Where calcium chloride or a similar agent is employed, the surface against which the moist air impinges takes on moisture and becomes caked or hardened so that it will not flow readily in the manner of the original loose, granular material. At the same time that it cakes or hardens, its bulk is reduced by reason of the fact that the moisture collecting upon it drains and carries with it some of the agent in the form of a briny residue. When the agent cakes and is reduced in ize in the cone-like containers, it gravitates freely toward the bottom of the container, thus affording space at the top of the container for the introduction of a further supply. A supply is contained in the chamber 22 through which it has been introduced in the manner described and wherein it is preserved in its granular form so that it flows freely into the reticulated cones.

The collars 25 and-28 at the upper ends of the cones are provided for the purpose of insuring against the granular hygroscopic agent in the chamber 22 becoming moist and, therefore, caked path through the chamber which is occupied by the cones is caused repeatedly to impinge directly against the cones, which present an unusually large surface area of the hygroscopic agent, thus insuring rapid exchange of moisture. As the bottoms of all of the cones terminate in a point or apex, free dripping of the residual brine is encouraged and a drip pan 30 is provided to receive this brine which may be conducted away through a conduit 3i and disposed of in any convenient manner. The drip pan 30 also serves as a bottom wall for the chamber which contains the hygroscopic agent, closing all except the passage at the right-hand side through which the air is drawn.

In order to steady thecones to prevent their swinging in the event of a ships being tossed on a rough sea, a plate 32 is preferably provided adjacent the top of the ,drip pan 30. This plate is rigidly secured to the drip pan and is provided the moisture collected by this agent is provided for, any dust, or other impurities which are taken from the air in this manner, is carried off by the briny residue which drips into the pan 30. l While the essential elements of the air conditioning'unit are shown for purposes of illustrating the present invention, it is, of course, to be understood that'it may be automatically con-' trolled by instruments which measure the moisture content in the air and actuate a switch which controls the electric motor, all of which may be done in many conventional ways, and forms no part of the present invention.

Ordinarily, a ship is equipped with two king posts or ventilator pipes for each-hold, though in some cases there may be more. In any event, these are sealed off so that the present unit produces a continuous circulation of air through a closed circuit unless it is desired to provide some opening for the admissionof a limited amount of fresh air. While the present invention has been describe in its applicationto the'conditioning of air on board ships, its use is not thus specifically restricted, as it is readily applicable to the conditioning of air in any closed area, and provides ing many advantages over other devices constructed for this purpose.' The unit,'as disclosed,

is also applicable to the conditioning of air otherwise than by reducing its humidity, as there is ample space provided-for example, in the chamber I4for the introduction of heating, cooling, deodorizing and other mechanisms or agents which may act upon the air either with or without the de-humidifying unit. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

i. In an air conditioning unit having a dehumidifying chamber through which air to be conditioned is passed, a plurality of reticulated baskets adapted to contain a hygroscopic agent, said baskets being vertically positioned and arranged in staggered rows, the baskets of alternate rows being tapered toward their bottom ends, and the other baskets being tapered toward their upper ends.

2. In an air conditioning unit having a dehumidifying chamber through which air to be conditioned is passed, a plurality of reticulated baskets adapted to contain a hygroscopic agent,

said baskets being vertically positioned and arranged in staggered ro'ws, the baskets in alternate rows being substantially conicalin shape, each terminating in an apex at its lower end and each of the baskets in the other rows being tapered toward its upper end and having a conical portion at its lower end terminating in an apex at its bottom.

NORMAN E. 

